Balkan countries most vulnerable to Face News, Albania ranks

Balkan countries are the most vulnerable countries in Europe to the repeated news and phenomenon of “beyond the truth (post-truth)”, said a report blaming over-controlled state media or business interests, educational shortcomings and generally low levels of trust in society.

These are the main conclusions of the Media Knowledge Index drafted by the Open Society Institute in Sofia.
Marin Lessenski, who is the director of the European Policy programme of the Open Society Institute in Sofia, says that for a second year in a row, the indicator values the potential for the sustainability of 35 European societies towards mismanagement using indicators of media freedom, education and interhuman faith.

He says media freedom is an important factor in dealing with the news story, but often exceeded.

Education levels are vital when it comes to working for general educational levels and a special training for media knowledge. There is a connection between the two.

We do not know for certain what the direction of this relationship is, but we are sure there is one. We assumed that when the level of education or media freedom increases and the other will follow”, Lessenski told “BIRN”

The author said that the indicator measures stability against the phenomenon of beyond the truth, news of the statistics and their social consequences; not mass media knowledge in itself, the factors that predict that level of education, the situation in which media are located, social trust, and the use of electronic means and participation in public decision making. Education levels are measured by the average PISA test scores for basic knowledge (written, reading, arithmetic).

According to the indicator for 2018, Nordic countries are the best equipped of any country to handle news statistics, mainly as they have high marks on higher education and media freedom.

The report cites Estonia in Eastern Europe as a country with high appreciation in terms of higher education and media freedom, which is noted by other countries in the Central and Eastern European region.

The index places all Balkan countries at the lowest half of the scale of this index, with Greece and Romania being best “ ” in the 27th and 28th place, followed by Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Turkey and Macedonia respectively.
Media Lit Indexgraph 1
These two have received the worst assessment. According to the report, this comes because of the low level of freedom of the media in Turkey and for low education assessment in Macedonia's case.

“has an apparent continuation of worsening factors across all countries in the region”, Lessenski added.

The index notes a slow improvement in most of the Balkan country since 2017. Meanwhile, Bulgaria and Romania have remained in the country, while Serbia, Montenegro and Romania are going back.

The overall decline in trust in institutions and in fellow citizens is undermining estimates of ballistic venaries.

The controversial <x0m> news undermines trust and relates to increased polarisation in society”, warned in the report, which further said the phenomenon undermines and damages the quality of political debates.

While a series of proposals for overhauling and self-environment to address the phenomenon of statistical news are being presented in the report, it also says the best way to move forward is by supporting free media.

The more controlled the media terrain, the wider the path of distortions is, and the less the chances of having differing information and views” are concluded in the report. /Buriment: BalkanInsight